The New Era
by Hajjir'Haggir'Hagrid
Summary: Based from Ginny's point of view. The aftermath of the battle after a couple of months. Harry, Ron and Hermione are all back to re-do their seventh year of Hogwarts. After the appointment of new Minister for Magic, the magical world isn't set for peace just yet after the demise of Voldermort. Romance's blossom also and lots of drama! Little bit of everything, read and enjoy! :)
1. Chapter 1

**Started a new story! It is based post-battle but there was no history between Harry and Ginny. Enjoy! **

**Chapter 1**

GPOV

"Kingsley Shacklebolt has announced his official resignation from the post of Minister for Magic this morning, reports coming live from The Ministry." I heard as I came down the newly refurbished stairs to the kitchen, everybody was gathered around the kitchen table listening to the radio.  
"We are now speaking to ex Minister Cornelius Fudge, what are your thoughts on the recent events from the Ministry this morning?"  
"I have no thoughts on the events, Kingsley Shacklebolt has been MIA for quite a while now, it was bound to happen." He spoke from behind his nose.  
"Yes, well he did more for this world than you ever did you useless bastard!" My dad uttered -and quite correctly might I add- shut the radio off and walked to the living room.

Everybody was home for the summer before school and careers started tomorrow- ugh school. Well, almost everybody. George decided to go travelling to all the magical towns after the battle, he claimed it was to bring new ideas for the joke shop, but everybody knew it was because he couldn't stand being around the house and the shop without Fred. Mum and Dad tried to talk him out of it, to make him stay here and be with family but Fred was George's family and we all knew it. He said he would be back by Christmas and he sent owl's here and there just to put Mum's mind to rest. Ron, Percy, Bill and Fleur were all eating breakfast in silence whilst Mum was knitting scarves. She was knitting, actually knitting, no enchantment or anything.  
"Morning." I said with high hopes to try and lighten the mood. They looked up at me and I got a soft grunt of "Morning" from Ron and Percy, and a half hearted nod from Bill. Fleur gave me a large grin and I couldn't help but return it. She was the only one who was a little oblivious to the atmosphere surrounding her and that was mostly a good thing right now.  
"Good morning darling, I knitted you a new scarf for this year. It's much more thicker and longer than your last one." My mum stood up and held out a bright golden red scarf with thin tassels at the end. I held it from her, it was a lot thicker than my short and faded red scarf from last year.  
"Thanks Mum, but it's still summer time yet, don't think I'll be needing it anytime soon." I laughed, mostly to myself, but she also smiled.  
"I know, just so you don't have to worry about it later. Would you like me to fix you some breakfast?" I looked at her face, smiling and all mother like. This is what her face spoke, but her eyes told a different story. I could see the pain and hurt in them, they almost looked like they were about to burst tears at any minute, the redness of them was evident that she has been crying and I wished I could help her. The thought of losing a child was unbearable to me.  
"No, it's okay. I'll do it quickly myself. I need to get ready to go Diagon Alley with Luna and Susan to grab some last minute stuff for school tomorrow." We needed to get extra quills and spellotape for Transfiguration.  
"You're going to Diagon Alley?" Ron picked his head up from his food, which he had barely touched. Well, for him anyway.  
"Yeah, why? Want to join?" I asked.  
"Erm yeah, I'll let Harry know, he's staying at the Leaky Cauldron so I'll meet him there." Ron, Harry and Hermione were all coming back to Hogwarts for the year to re-do their exams and get final qualifications. So, they will most likely be in all my classes, well most of them. I'm not sure how to feel that this is also my final year in Hogwarts.  
"Okay cool, I'll go and get ready and we can Floo Powder together." I was meeting Luna and Susan over there too, it was just easier that way.  
I made some quick toast and went to go and get dressed. I picked out the most comfortable thing I could find. I ended up with jeans and my favourite midnight blue-ish and red-ish t-shirt with a small leather Quidditch broom embroidered on the left breast. It was my favourite because Mum had sewed the broom on when I got my first call up to the Quidditch team, and it somehow manages to still fit me after five years. Plus, the weather was crazy hot and I wasn't going to wear a tank top to Diagon Alley. I pulled on my custom made converse, and by custom I mean my mother had also decided to sew a small 'G' on the lace flap. Brushed my hair into a quick pony tail, grabbed my bag and went back downstairs.  
I found Ron already dressed and drinking a glass of water in the kitchen.  
"Ready?" I asked. He nodded as he finished his glass and we walked to the front door. I popped my head in the living room and said bye.  
"Bye, make sure you get everything you need and be home at a reasonable hour. Ron watch out for your sister." Mum shouted as we made it out the door to the basement. I smiled to myself, for a second it was just like old times.  
We Floo Powdered through the fireplace and were in Diagon Alley in a flash.

"Right, where are you meeting Luna and Susan?" He started picking his mood up and sounded a lot better than at home.  
"We said we'd meet at Flourish and Blotts in about ten minutes. So you can go get Harry now whilst I meet them." I explained, we did arrange to meet at ten 'o'clock and it had just gone quarter to.  
"Okay, we'll be at the Leaky Cauldron when you're done. Keep your wand at the ready though!" He shouted as I began to walk away, I grinned at him and patted my leg. This is where I now kept my wand. Ever since Dumbledore's Army, it was second nature for me to always need to protect myself. Ron returned my grin and he was no longer the sad brother from at home. When the battle ended, he turned into a serious and extremely over protective brother. But, there were moments where his fun side still came out.

As I got closer to Flourish and Blotts, I found Luna standing there with her eccentric outfit of newspapers? And her long blonde hair waving down freely.  
"Hey Luna!" I startled her as I came from behind.  
"Ginny! Don't do that!"  
"I'm sorry," I laughed "Where is Susan?"  
"She told me to tell you she couldn't come because she's sick and can't come out of the house, unless she's willing to risk to miss the train tomorrow." Luna spoke in her monotone voice with a strange rhythm.  
"Oh, okay. Well, that's rubbish. We should get a move on then. Ron and Harry are here too by the way." I hadn't seen Harry since a couple of weeks after the battle ended. That was the middle of May, it was now nearly September. He spent most of the summer alone and only kept in contact with Ron through letters.  
"Oh, really. What a nice surprise, I haven't seen them for a while." She genuinely sounded pleasantly surprised.  
We shopped around and got our last minute supplies and decided to make it back to the Leaky Cauldron.  
We entered the door, and suddenly it was night time. It was so dark, there was only a few candles lighting the place up. I went to the man sitting at the desk which led to the bed and breakfast area.  
"Can I help you?" His voice was deeper than Kingsley's with a frog in his throat. He looked up from his pirate hat and he had a large scar on his right cheek.  
"Hi, looking for Mr Harry Potter's room please." I politely, asked. A posh accent comes out when speaking to strangers and I have no idea why.  
"Ain't you all miss." he said as he looked down to the parchment on his desk. I wanted to give a little snigger at the comment but to be honest, I didn't really see that much of a funny side. "Name?" He asked gruntingly.  
"Ginny Weasley."  
"Weasley eh, yeah you're expected. Room 104." A door appeared beside him and opened. "Go on through."  
I made my way through the door. "Thankyou!" I heard Luna say behind me as she gave a little skip.

We made it to the room, it was on the ground floor. I knocked and the door opened straight away. I walked in and found a note on the table.

"Ginny, gone out to get a few drinks. Be back soon, Ron."

"Okay, on that note then, I'm going to the bathroom to wash my face. I am scorching hot." I put my bags down and re-tied my pony tail.  
"You know there's a really great remedy to help with that problem." Luna was about to go on and on and on.  
"I'm sure there is Luna, but you can tell me about it later." I smiled at her and she smiled back with a chirpy "Okay!"  
I made my way to the bathroom and opened the door only to get a full frontal of Harry Potter!  
"Ew no, no, no, no what have I just seen?!" I screamed as I covered my eyes and attempted to walk backwards out the door but ended up falling flat on my bum.  
"Ginny! When did you get here?!" he shrieked back at me.  
"I don't know and I don't remember. But for the love of god please get a towel!" I was still on the floor with my eyes covered.  
"Okay, okay you can open your eyes now."

**Bit of a slow start, but needed to get the background stuff out of the way. Please keep reading and review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

GPOV

"Are you sure?" I asked him as I squinted through the gap in my palms. He was decent now but his face was as bright as a tomato and I could feel the heat glaring off my face as well. I turned around as fast as I could through the door whilst he got properly dressed.

"Oh, Ginny. Your face is almost as fiery as your hair." I saw Luna sat on the bed staring at me grinning.

"Thanks." I gave a sarcastic response paired with a smile. I sat on the bed next to her and put my head in my hands. "Oh my god, I can't get that picture out of my head. Why me?!" I gave a loud muffled grunt into my hands. As if things weren't already awkward between me and Harry. We hadn't really held a proper conversation for years as I slowly faded into the background whilst all the drama happened with Voldemort.

"It's not that bad really, at least you can say you have seen The Chosen One like nobody else has." Luna stated as she got a bottle of Pumpkin Juice from her bag.

"Erm, I'm not really sure I want to." I mean it wasn't a particularly bad sight…But Harry was like my older brother that I just never really paid any attention to except the past year.

The door opened and Ron walked through with a bag full of glass bottles clonking together. "Aw hey, you're here." He looked up and smiled.

"Well yeah, you did leave us a note you know." I gestured towards the note, stating the obvious.

"Yeah but I wasn't gone for very long and knowing you, you shop for-ever." He pulled a face as he dragged out the last word of his sentence. I returned the look as I rolled my eyes away only to meet Harry's as he came out the bathroom. Fully dressed. I smirked to myself but was still completely grossed out by the image I had in my head.

"Hey Harry, I got the drinks you wanted, I also bought a new set of cards to play with the lads on the train tomorrow. George and- I mean George took our old set when he travelled.." Ron brushed off the awkward pause and just showed Harry the set of cards as he inspected them.  
I looked at Luna on the bed next to me, weird. Why had Harry rented out a two bed room? Anyway, Luna was sat upside down with her legs against the wall reading her upside down Quibbler. It had restarted again after the battle and had become more popular than the Daily Prophet by miles.  
"Did you know that Nargles are naked when they infest in Mistletoe?" It was a rhetorical question of course, but I couldn't help but give out a big giggle and attempt to conceal it. I looked at Harry as he was still 'inspecting' the pack of cards one by one, he was looking down as he went bright red again. Luna was in her own world ninety-five percent of the time, but she sure did have a sense of humour when it came to interacting with the other five percent of the world.

We stayed and relaxed in the bar for a while as we all ordered Firewhiskeys, we were all of age now even though it wasn't the first time we had them. There was a quid ditch game on, and we listened to the live commentary. Ireland lost 150-110 to Bulgaria.  
It was getting to be dusk and we all decided to go home. It had been an eventful day for sure. Luna set off half an hour before the rest of us. Harry was originally going to spend the rest of the night at the Leaky Cauldron but Ron persuaded him to come back with us and catch the train together tomorrow.

We made it back home and heard the radio on full volume.

"Jacob Theirnsly has been appointed new Minister for Magic. We are here live reporting from the Ministry as Minister Theirnsly has just given his inauguration speech." Then the radio went on as we heard loads of reporters attempting to ask questions.

"Who the bloomin'ell is Jacob Theirnsly?" Ron said next to me as we made it to the front room. "And what a bloody name too, sounds pricky." I laughed at his play on word joke that nobody else probably would've got except me, George and Fred.

"Oh hello sweetie, didn't realise you were home. Oh Harry, what a lovely surprise to see you!" Mum went straight past me and Ron as she gave Harry a big hug almost suffocating him with her grasp. Harry went on to say his hello's to the rest of the family and stayed talking downstairs with Dad about the appointment of the Ministry and politics.

I decided to go upstairs and take a shower and get everything ready for tomorrow. A 9' o'clock train meant I had to attempt to get an early night. As I was in the shower I realised how quiet Harry was on the way home. Great, things have gone backwards in the progress of not being awkward anymore, I was unsure of whether to avoid him or not for the next couple of months. Highly unlikely as we would be having classes together I'm sure. As I got out of the shower I realised the situation of this morning could be reversed right this second as I was drying myself. My god, that would be horribly coarse. It would be much worse for him to see me naked than the other way around.  
Thank god no situation like that happened as I rushed quickly to my room and got dressed and dried my hair. I packed the last minute things into my suitcase and packed my train handbag with all the things to occupy me for the ride. Rita Skeeter had published a new fictional book about a girl going through the battle of Hogwarts and surprisingly, it was actually a good read. I was only within the first few chapters though.

I went back downstairs to eat something before I went bed. Everybody was still awake except Bill and Fleur who went to their bedroom all the way on the top floor of the barn. I sat in the kitchen as I ate some leftover sandwiches Mum had made for dinner whilst reading the copy of the Quibbler that Luna gave me earlier. There was an article about the candidate for Minister for Magic -although now he actually was- Jacob Theirnsly and a speech he recently made.

_"I do believe that Ministry and magical world is heading into a new era of time and changes are required in order to progress forward. I believe I am the man to do this and I have full backing support of the ministry to go ahead with my plans. I wish to enforce a stronger schooling system for the rightful witches and wizards of this time. I believe education is the key to our future as a generation, to go down in history for new prodigies and outstanding achievements. The New Era is upon us and I am determined to take us there."_

Ron was right, he did sound pricky. Where the hell did the Ministry pick him out from, nobody had ever even heard of him before, not like the previous Ministers. There was his picture next to the article, he was fairly young, quite good-looking actually. But a black and white picture really doesn't do anybody justice. I folded the paper in half as I finished my food, I said goodnight to everyone and went back upstairs. I bumped into Harry on our narrow staircase, we had an awkward moment -_obviously-_ trying to get past each other as we did the go left, go right situation a couple of times. As I finally made it past him I heard him mumble a quiet, "night" and quickly rushed down quickly enough to avoid hearing my "Goodnight!" as I shouted behind me.  
I think I should keep a tally of awkward moments this year to pass the time.

**As always favourite and review please! Lots more to come! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

GPOV

I woke up in the morning at 7 'o'clock sharp. I was feeling refreshed from the shower the night before and my hair felt nice and cold on my face, even though the weather was once again incredibly hot and sticky. Everyone was still sleeping, the boys don't usually wake up till about half past. I went downstairs and found Mum sat in the kitchen, her eyes bloodshot red. She looked up and was taken by surprise.

"Oh Ginny, sweetheart, I didn't realise you were up." She was croaking and cleared her throat whilst wiping her eyes from the tears.

"Yeah I just got up now, my body clock is all ready for school for once in its life." I gave a half hearted smile to try and get a response out of her but she just smiled and went to the sink to splash her face in cold water. "Mum, are you sure you're okay?"

She turned around to face me, "Me? I'm fine honey, don't worry about me. You should go and start getting ready." She patted her face with a towel.

"Mum, you're clearly not fine. Look at you, it's like you haven't slept for days. You can't keep going like this, you will wear yourself out." I was sure she had lost a few stones because of the loss of her appetite too. She looked at me and I saw a tear roll down her cheek. "I wish you would say something to me Mum, I am here for you you know." I assured her and with that she turned back around and put her head in her hands. I stood up and went to hug her.

"Oh Ginny, I've tried so hard to be the mother I was, these past few months. I've tried to be strong but I can't. I see Fred in my head all the time and I just hear bellows of why wasn't I there, why could I not protect my son, my boy!" Her voice broke into tears so strongly that I could no longer hold back my own. My mother was falling apart right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do to help.

"Oh Mum, it wasn't your fault, it was nobody's fault. There was nothing anybody could do, Fred died knowing that he was loved and that's all we can ask for. I wish we could turn back time but we can't." I brushed my face dry as I held on to her for support. In the first few weeks after his death, I locked myself in my room all day except when it was necessary to come out. I needed to be alone, I had to accept the fact there would he would not be here anymore. I cried for days, remembering all the memories we had together in this house and all of us as a family. But slowly I came to terms with it, and now I had to help my mum too.  
"We can't bring him back, but we can't mourn him forever either. We have to celebrate his life and to do that we have to carry on like he's still here watching us. I'm sure he'd be trying to make the mood around here as light hearted as he could." I laughed, and I could see her mouth curling up too. "We both have to be strong, it won't be easy but we can do it."

"You're spirit is incredible and you're the best daughter any mother could ever ask for." She smiled and kissed me on my forehead. "I love you and don't you ever forget that." She squeezed my shoulders and made her way upstairs to wake everybody up.

I also washed my face to make the redness go away. After I dried my face, I made some quick toast, I would normally skip breakfast but I knew I wouldn't be eating properly until the evening, at the feast. As I finished, Ron came and made his own. His eyes were still glued shut, as he was going to put mum's cookery book in the toaster instead of bread.

"Bloody hell Ron," I rushed to stop him. "What are you trying to do, blow us up?!" He just stood there. "Helloooo, earth to Ron!" He winced out of it and still couldn't grasp what he had just done.  
"This is a book, made of parchment." I held it up to him as I condescended my sentences. "Where when heated, can cause crazy dangerous fires." He was now coming around and I could see him beginning to pull a face, as always. "And this is bread, what you are supposed to eat!" I laughed as he pushed me out of the way.

"Shut up Ginny." He carried on making his toast the right way this time, and I carried on laughing. "Why the hell are you so happy this morning, that excited to go back to Hogwarts? Geek." He rolled his eyes at me.

"Erm, excuse me, I am not a geek. And Hogwarts isn't going to be the same as it was before so I'm not actually that excited." It was true, Hogwarts will have changed as there was a new Headmaster/Headmistress that would be officially appointed today. Professor McGonagall was supposedly in the running, but it was the Ministry who decided and they have been revamped too, so nobody knows yet.  
"Yeah, whatever. Also, did you know it isn't only me, Harry and Hermione coming back this year."

"Really? Who else?" I asked, this was news to me.

"Well, Dean for one because he was on the run last year as well, Neville because he was in hiding and there's a few others that I heard about." Oh Neville, Luna will be happy about that, she doesn't admit it but I know she has a slight crush on him. And Dean, my ex. Great. "Oh and Seamus is apparently coming back to help in Charms with Flitwick." Ron added. So the two sidekicks to each other will be reunited.

After Ron finished we both returned to our rooms to get ready. I was hastily avoiding Harry as I rushed up, I was glad to find out he was in the shower thank god.  
I got dressed as I decided to wear the same outfit as yesterday. I couldn't really be bothered to pick out a new one, I wasn't particularly trying to impress anyone.

We ended up leaving the house at quarter past eight, plenty of time to get the train. It was only me, Ron and Harry that were going to platform 9 ¾ but my mum and dad decided to drop us off as Dad and Percy were going to the Ministry. They all decided to eat a 'small' breakfast on our way at this Muggle shop which had a breakfast bar. This of course meant we had to rush to get the train as usual. We had ten minutes to rush and this was all spent Harry avoiding as much contact with me as possible, which made things much more awkward and everything seemed a little more rushed which wasn't a good thing. Dad and Percy had left already so Mum was now the one to get angry and make everything more tense as well.

"For god sake Ronald, why do you have to make life more difficult for yourself. Tie your shoelaces now and STOP TRIPPING!" People started to look at us now and it was like this every year but I was still as embarrassed as I could ever be. I just carried on walking as Ron had to kneel and manually tie his laces together. It was in the muggle world so it wasn't like he could pull out his wand.

We finally made it to the platform and I was the last to go through as Mum gave me a really long hug but just didn't say anything except "I love you".

"I love you too Mum." and I turned around, preparing myself to run into a wall with no impact at the end. As I ran and made it through the wall with my eyes closed I could instantly smell the differences of dimensions. I had entered my second home.

**Bit of an uneventful chapter but I have plans! I give you my word.**

**Review and favourite please! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for a sort of late update!**

Chapter 4

GPOV

As I made it through the wall, still having my eyes closed, I could instantly feel the warm air against my skin and the humid steam from the train that was warming up to leave, the hairs on my neck stood up out of excitement. I could hear all the farewell's and goodbye's of all the children from first years through to the seventh years to their loving parents. I opened my eyes only to be met by a thundering hug from Hermione.

"Oh my god Ginny!" She squeezed on to me tightly. Too tight. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've mished you too Herbione." My speech was muffled and she realised as she let go of me. "How have you been, how was your summer?" I asked her as we started walking towards Ron and Harry who were stood next Neville and Luna near the boarding ramp.

"It was good, I spent the summer in Australia with my parents. It took me a while to remove the memory charm without using torture but I figured it out in the end." She smiled at me with a thankful glance to herself. I could see her glowing bronze tan which was evidence of the legendary hot sun of down under. I returned her smile.

"That's wonderful Hermione, I'm really happy for you to have your family back together after all the trouble you've been through." A look of horror washed over her face. I didn't realise why until I replayed the sentence in my head.

"Oh Ginny, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to pry!" She exclaimed.

"No, no it was my fault, I didn't mean it that way at all. I am genuinely happy for you, please don't feel bad." I assured her.

"Still, I should've known better." She looked down into her trolley fighting back tears.

"Please don't worry about it. Honestly, its fine." I brushed her shoulder.

"Worry about what?" I heard Ron beam as we reached them.

"Nothing, I just asked her about something and she couldn't help me." I rushed before she could say anything. His face look confused.

"Asked about what?" He made his eyebrows uneven.

"Bloody hell Ron, lady things, now butt out!" A look of disgust now washed over his face of confusion as I pushed my trolley up the ramp past him. I could hear Hermione give a small giggle behind me, I turned around and gave her a wink just to assure her that she was okay.  
As we had all boarded the train, the boys went into one carriage as we girls were in one of our own. For the first hour and half of the ride Hermione was with Ron and Harry in their carriage whilst I spent the time reading Rita Skeeter's book. The girl who was called Morgan, had just discovered that Harry and his crew were captured and had escaped and the Crowley siblings were beginning to torture everybody in the school about his whereabouts. Harry and his crew was the only fact that was true, everything else was made up.

I looked up at Luna opposite as I had finished reading, she was, as expected, reading her copy of the upside down Quibbler. Its amazing how no recycled facts are used in that thing with a new edition daily. You learn something new every day. I looked next to me where Susan was sleeping, ever since we stepped on the train she knocked out. Poor girl.

"So Luna, anything new in today's world?" I asked her as I stretched for a bottle of water from the over head, where I my bag was kept. It was getting incredibly stuffy on the train and our window wouldn't open.

"Well, a wizarding naturalist has claimed he found a Crumple-Horned Snorkack in Sweden. But, after further investigation he realised he found just a normal very oddly-shaped bull horn." She said it as though she was pondering in a debate with someone who wasn't there.

I nodded at her as I rolled my eyes, "I meant anything new in the world that I live in." I said as I took a large gulp from my bottle and sat back down. That was refreshing.

"Well there are some comments from the new Minister for Magic talking about what he plans to do about magical schools. He plans to filter all of the students and sort them himself." She explained.

"What? As in sort them into the houses himself?"

"No, filter them into sections. Like the classes of the students and their intelligence or something." Luna went on. It didn't make any sense what she was saying. How could you filter us into categories? What did that even mean?

"What does that even mean?" I asked.

"Here, read it yourself." She handed me the paper.

It was true, his exact words didn't make it any easier to understand to what he actually meant. It seemed rogue, and broken. I really didn't have a good feeling about him. I was interrupted in my thoughts as Hermione slid the door open to our carriage and sat down next to Luna quietly as she saw Susan sleeping beside me.

"Hey." She whispered.  
"It's okay, you don't have to whisper. A mountain crashing on top of her and she still wouldn't wake up." I laughed as I saw her breathing heavily next to me, away with the fairies.

Hermione laughed too as she watched her for a moment and then looked towards me, "Hey Ginny can I ask you something?"

I took another gulp from my bottle, "Yeah sure, go ahead." I chuckled as I was still looking at Susan and handed Luna her paper back.

"What's happened with you and Harry?" My face dropped as I looked at Luna and she back at me. I had no idea what to respond with and would he really have said anything?

"With Harry? Nothing why? What makes you ask?" I was the one asking hastily this time, as I took another sip from my bottle only to find it was finished. Great.

Hermione shuffled in her seat, "Nothing really, it's just whenever either me or Ron mention your name, he becomes agitated and changes the subject very quickly." I couldn't believe it, why did he have to be like that and why was he so bothered about it. I wasn't. "I presumed it couldn't have been anything that bad as you spent the whole morning together." She shrugged and looked to me for an answer. I might as well have told her or otherwise she wouldn't leave it all year. And it really wasn't anything to keep secret, it wasn't such a big deal. Was it?

When I finished reciting the past two days events, Hermione's face had gone through a series of expressions enough for an entire year. From shocked at the beginning, to ewww, to OMG, and finally back to ewww.

"I can't believe it, no wonder he's so uncomfortable at the sound of you, I knew it when we were boarding the train." She fell back into her seat and grinned.

"But, seriously, it isn't that big of a deal, I don't understand why he's making it like this. Nothing even happened. I saw him naked, so what!" I pleaded to them both. They both stared at me, Hermione more than Luna who finally left the conversation back to reading the Quibbler.

"Ginny, I don't think you understand, for him it probably is. You're the first girl since Cho Chang who's probably _been there_." She looked disgusted with her own words.

"Ew Hermione, so didn't need to go there." But she did make a fair point.

"Don't forget all the Voldemort stuff kept him busy for a few years on the trot." She added.

"I know but-" I was cut off by the sound of the trains horn. I hadn't even realised the time, and that we were gradually slowing down. I looked out the window to see the castle across the river. It was getting to be evening now and the castle's light were beaming, radiating ambiance around it. The wrecks from the battle were mostly repaired but a few still remained but I don't think anybody minded. It was our symbol of victory and triumph and would go down in history. Hogwarts would go down in history.

**Enjoyed writing this chapter, hope you like it! As always, review and favourite, very thankful in advance! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

GPOV

As the first years were going off to get the boats to the castle, the rest of us made our way to the carriages that would take us. It was strange not to see the rest of Ron's year here, it felt surreal almost. It still didn't feel normal. As we were walking from Hogsmeade station, I caught up with Neville, I didn't have a chance to talk to him before.

"I'm kind of happy to be back you know, it's like I can give the proper goodbye from me that Hogwarts deserves." He paused, and attempted to give a discreet look to Luna who was also walking behind me. "Rather than be in hiding I mean." He laughed nervously and his head was quickly facing forward again. I sniggered to myself, but he actually made a good point, Hogwarts is a second home to all of us.  
As we made it to the carriages, I noticed the large creatures that I had never seen before. I knew what they were thanks to being best friends with Luna, but seeing them in person was a different experience. They were large, skeletal and _dark_. The large wings that were spread out against it's long bony back looked as though they were made of leather, like a bats. And its face, its face wasn't even there, it looked hollow except for the white eyes, that sparkled with no meaning. It only just hit me what this meant, '_they can only be seen_ _by_ _people who have seen death_' Luna's words rang in my ears. I had accepted the death a long time but all of a sudden the shock washed over me as if it was never there.

"It gets better after a while." I jumped at the hushed tone from behind me. It was Harry. I came to a halt without knowing and I could feel my face hot, there were tears strolling down. I looked around me and saw everybody was already on the carriage getting ready to go, it was just me and him stood there. I quickly wiped my tears away, and looked at him.

"Thanks." I sniffed quietly and smiled. He mirrored my smile and walked away and I followed.

The ride to Hogwarts was quick and smooth as it had always been. It was nice to feel a sense of normality about the situation but I knew once we arrived it wouldn't be the same. New Headmaster or mistress, as well as some new teachers. I felt strange, I felt okay but at the same time, I didn't. I had a knot in my stomach that I couldn't untie. But on the plus side, I had an awkward not so awkward moment with Harry! Making progress, at least I thought it was until we arrived and he rushed off quickly with Ron avoiding my glance. I felt a nudge from Hermione.

As we arrived, we were met at the large gates by a woman. Tall, blonde and dazzling blue eyes that glistened in the night. She projected her voice to all of us as we gathered around.

"Good evening students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." I felt a stronger, less humorous nudge off Hermione as I mirrored her look of confused furrowed eyebrows. "I don't plan to keep you long outside even though the weather is wonderful. I would like to welcome you the first moment you enter the castle, and not wait until the feast." She gave a large smile with perfect pearl white teeth. We were all still looking at her waiting for her to say who the hell she was. "I'm sure, you are all wondering who I am and why on earth I have decided to keep you here." She continued smiling, freakishly… "I wanted to formally introduce myself without there being confusion during the feast," she paused "I am your new Headmistress." There quiet gasps around the crowd, we were all expecting somebody unexpected but not somebody who we'd never even heard of. "My name is Professor Annabelle, no first or second name, just Professor Annabelle." She broke out her smile again. "I hope we all meet personally at least once this year. I'm looking forward to working with you all to move past the events of the last few months and make good progress for bigger and better. I wish you a great year and I will see you all in the Great Hall in an hour." She gave one last weird smile and glided away in her silver robes with Filch following closely.

We were all stood in silence looking at each other, all with similar expressions of _what the hell was that?_  
Professor Flitwick came quickly scurrying out and rushed us all inside so he could close the gates. We all went inside, we noticed some first years who were lost from their flock as they were going to Professor McGonagall. We guided them back as we made our ways up to our respective dorms. The common room was still the same, full of red and gold as you made it through the painting. It was nice, that nothing had changed, the notice board still had last years notice's up before everything went haywire. I went over and saw the notice for quidditch practice. It was the first and last one that we had that year.

"Ginny, are you coming up?" I turned around to Hermione behind me.

"Yeah, I'll be right up." I nodded to her as she made her way up. I took the notice down and scrunched it up in my hand and threw it in the waste bin and went upstairs. I passed the boys on my way up meeting Harry's stare but I looked away instantly. I had enough of Harry drama for a day, make that two.  
I walked into the bedroom, and I let out an instant sigh of relief. My bed across the room was calling out my name, I don't know why I was so tired but I didn't feel well either, the agonizing knot in my stomach was still there. I made my way across the large room, passing all the girls who were already unpacking, I dragged my suitcase which was left at the foot of the bed onto my sheets. I wanted to get the bottle of orange juice I stuck in there, I was feeling so dehydrated from the heat.  
"Ginny, leave some room for the feast at least." I looked at Hermione on the bed next to me, she had already neatly stacked her clothes in piles, ready to put in the drawers.

"It's a drink Hermione, how can I get full off it?" I continued as I shook my head at her.

"It's still possible, it can give you a bloated feeling, making you feel like you can't eat anymore." Her tone had changed into teacher mode.

"Okay, yeah." I decided to take her advice because I actually felt like if I drank anymore I would be sick. "I'm just going to go to the bathroom." I got up slowly and made my way.

I washed my face with cold water, I felt a little better. I could see my cheeks beginning to flush again. I think I caught a summer cold of some sort, well I hope that's all it was. I felt fine enough anyway. I dabbed my face with the towel and went back to the room.  
The rest of them had already gone down to the Great Hall I presumed. I saw Hermione sat on the bed, already dressed in her robes.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She gave me a concerned look.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?" I replied as I opened my trunk to get my robes out.

"Just, ever since we got off the train, you haven't seemed fine." She croaked and quickly cleared her throat.

I laughed, "Honestly, I'm fine Hermione, no need to worry." I yawned, "See, just tired." I smiled at her.

"Okay, well I'll meet you downstairs in the Hall by the time you get changed." She got up and left.

As I finished changing, I began to walk down I tripped on my robes on the last step into the common room. I stumbled in as I saw Seamus and Harry stood there.

"You alright there Ginny?" Seamus gave a little giggle in his Irish accent.

"I'm fine thanks Seamus." I sarcastically smiled at him and briskly walked past them. I kept my head down and walked down to the Great Hall.

**Hope you like! Reviews would be greatly appreciated, there are plans in store so you can hit favourite button too if you'd like! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

GPOV

I finally made it down the seven flights of magical moving staircases, of course Gryffindor's dorm had to be on the top floor. I was feeling breathless and dizzy when I reached Hermione and Luna who were waiting to go into the hall. I couldn't wait to eat now, I could feel a hunger headache coming along. Weird when I was feeling sick not just ten minutes ago.

"I can't believe we have a new headmistress, I thought if we didn't get a headmaster, Professor McGonagall would be first choice after Dumbledore." Hermione was speaking in a low tone as she looked at people passing by. "I mean, nobody knows who she even is, and to be honest, her smile is enough to freak somebody out." She was now staring at her at the Professor's table at the front of the hall with a uneasy look.

"We can't be too quick to make assumptions. Maybe she's what the school needs." Luna chirped in and gave a hopeful smile and then walked in with the rest of the Ravenclaw house. Me and Hermione followed and found our seats on the Gryffindor table next to Dean and Ron. Thankfully, I sat next to Ron and Hermione next to Dean. My stomach seemed to slowly be easing up now, maybe I was just really hungry, I mean I hadn't eaten since breakfast. Yeah, that must've been it, what was I thinking? I should've just ate on the train, I haven't once in my life been too hungry when faced with food.

Professor Anabelle made her formal speech once the first years were all sorted. The new Gryffindor's seemed a mix of scared, nervous, excited and all hyper at once. There was a space next to me where a first year named Erin came and sat quietly next to me once she had been sorted. I smiled at her and she sweetly smiled back, but had a look of terror on her face. Professor Anabelle pretty much repeated to us what she had said earlier but with extra fancy words in there and more freaky smiling. It was still as creepy as the first time we heard it. She also presented the new teachers. Most of the old ones still remained, like Flitwick, Slughorn and McGonagall. There was still Professor Sprout and Trelawney too. Anabelle also said she would be teaching the students who had Ancient Runes along with another new teacher called Professor Swan.  
"Oh no" I heard Hermione whisper from opposite the table. They would be juggling between the classes. When they stood next to each other they almost look like they could be sisters with the long blonde hair and ice white skin. There was also Hagrid who would reprise his role as Professor of Care of Magical Creatures. He received a loud cheer when his name was read out. It was good to see the hall be in unison, it hadn't been like that in such a long time. It felt exhilarating and during the rest of the evening I had a smile on my face.

"And now I'm happy to announce you can finally eat!" Professor Anabelle lifted her hands and the magical feast suddenly appeared. My stomach screamed at me, the food looked amazing. Of course the first to dig in was Ron next to me, his hand reached for the drumsticks first and the normal fight for them between him and Seamus surfaced. I just went for a little bit of everything.

The hall was now lit with stories of summer and reunions and everybody seemed really happy. Maybe this year _was_ going to be different, but in a good way.  
I didn't take much notice of Harry until everybody heard his glass of drink spilling and breaking. He obviously tried to brush it off with laughter as everybody else was laughing and I caught his eye. I couldn't help but grin and he shook his head and laughed and sat back down on the other side of Seamus. Everybody was in good spirits and it turned out to be a nicer meal than expected, although the new headmistress didn't seem to be eating and just eyed everyone else. Her eye caught mine and I suddenly felt uncomfortable and the knot in my stomach was churning again. Its like she was looking at me but through me at the same time. I quickly blinked and she had turned to the teacher next to her.  
All of a sudden there was a large knock into my back of what felt like gallons of pumpkin juice.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL!" I shot up and the hall turned silent. I quickly turned around ready to give a mouthful to the idiot only to turn silent myself. In front of me stood a boy who was staring at me with stone green eyes that would take your breath away. His hair was dirty blonde, ruffled and short. He was beautiful. I'd never seen him before in my life but he was wearing Hogwarts robes. He looked much too old to be a first year and I really hoped he wasn't after I just described him to be beautiful.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realise it was a stupid idea to walk with a glass of juice with extremely long robes. High possibility of tripping and causing a major catastrophe." He spoke with an angelic voice, well not angelic of sorts, but deep and soft at the same time. He gestured towards my robes.

"You're right, it was stupid, first day hasn't even finished and I already need to wash these. Thanks." I sneered as I took my robe off and tried to take the dampness away. Just because he was beautiful didn't give him a free pass to be moronic.

"Is there a problem here?" Professor Anabelle had strutted down the isle. She was glaring at me.

"No ma'am, just a small accident, nothing to be concerned about." The voice spoke again.

"Oh a minute ago it was a catastrophe, now it's a small accident?" I was the one doing the glaring now. His face took a step back.

Anabelle stared at me and rolled her eyes "I trust Isaac has apologised already for his mistake?" _Oh_ so his name was Isaac.

"Yes, _Isaac_ has apologised." I rolled my head towards him as I hissed his name.

"Then there's no need to be making such a fuss now is there and stop the feast. You should go and get yourself cleaned up." I was taken aback by her tone. She turned around and the rest of the school carried on with their meal quietly. I turned to the table, all with faces that mirrored mine. Had she_ really_ just made that out to be my fault? My blood was boiling. What a bitch.  
"I hate her already." I whispered to them. I turned to Isaac.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but you better stay the hell away from me." I knocked his shoulder as I stormed past him. I could feel the eyes of the school on me as I made my way down the isle with my damp robes in my hand.  
The good spirited feeling of being back was now gone.

**Once again, review please! I would love to know your thoughts so far! :) **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

GPOV

I didn't fully comprehend what just happened, but my heart was racing from the anger. I finally made it to the common room and got undressed. I was feeling horribly sticky now so I had to have a shower. Before I went in, I switched the water on until it got warm. I looked in the mirror and my face had blown up in red. I got in the shower and turned the faucet onto full pressure for extra relaxation. I hated feeling like this. When you know you've done nothing wrong but you still get worked up over it. I didn't even know the woman to even be so bothered by her. And that _Isaac_, who on earth was he? Pops up from nowhere and creates stupid accidents. Ugh, I sincerely hoped he wasn't here to stay. I knew if Fred and George were here they would make me feel so much better, they would make poor attempts to cheer me up but they would work. One time, when I was younger I was having a play fight with Percy and he ran away and made me chase him but he knocked me into a door. Fred kept attempting to make magical drawings of Percy making a fool out of himself over and over. He drew me about a hundred until he was fully convinced I wasn't sad anymore.  
Ever since summer drew to a close, being away from home made me miss Fred more than when I was at home and I think it was beginning to take its toll on me. I could feel the salty droplets on my face mixing with the water, crying twice in one day must be a new record.  
I spent a good half hour in the shower until I finally felt ready to come out. My anger was washed away, and I realised I had nothing to be annoyed at. Well, I did, but I was trying to keep it out of my head. I stepped out the bathroom in my body towel/robe as I was drying my hair with a normal towel. The room was still empty, I couldn't choose if I wanted to go back down or not. I got changed into some clean clothes, and I decided to go back down. I should, it's not like I did anything wrong?  
I saw Erin on the staircase going down. Her auburn hair was waving down her back as she had a worried look on her face.  
"Hey, are you ok?" I stopped her in her tracks, she didn't seem to realise I was there. "Hello, Erin?" I waved my hand in her face and she finally met my eyes and snapped out of her little trance.

"Hi, I'm fine! You're all clean now, that's good. I should go up, I have to get ready for bed." She quickly rushed off up the stairs before I had a chance to say anything. It was only just 8'o'clock, why would she be needing to go sleep? Weird.

I finally made it back to the Great Hall, everybody was still talking and having dessert now. As I walked in, everybody was quiet as I could feel eyes on me once again. I was also the odd one out as I was the only one who wasn't wearing school robes. It wasn't my fault so I should hope nobody would kick up a fuss. I made it down the isle to my seat and everybody was still silent.  
"Okay everyone, no need to keep staring, carrying on eating." I sat down and everybody started to slur the conversations up again slowly. I met Hermione and Dean's stare opposite the table and smiled at them, they gave me a wobbled one back. I began to eat as I filled my plate with Pudding, Trifle, Apple tart and also picked up a Knickerbocker Glory. Everybody was back to normal talking and I got involved with the stories that were shared. I noticed Isaac sat at the front of the table staring at me and smiling. He was so beautiful…But, nevertheless, I scowled at him and returned back to my food. I also saw Annabelle, once again, giving me an icy stare. I tried my best to give a genuine smile but I'm one hundred percent sure it came out sarcastic. She was taken aback and frowned at me. Oops.

"Ginny!" Hermione whispered to me across the table. "Are you trying to make things harder for yourself?!"

"What are you talking about?" I took a mouthful of the delicious Apple tart.

"Stop trying to make this a bigger deal than it already is. Just let it go." She pleaded.

"Hermione, I didn't do anything wrong, why on earth is everybody making this about me? It was that idiot who knocked _into me_ first remember? _You_ let it go." I argued. This was so not fair.

"Ginny's right Hermione, it was him that started it first." Ron added from beside me.

"Thanks Ron," I interrupted, "_And_ might I add, I was ready to let it go until that bitch came and butted in and made it my fault."

"Shhh, she could hear you!" Hermione went back to whispering and kept cautiously looking at the front of the hall.

"Good! For the love of god. I hope she does, I'm not scared of her. I don't even know where they pulled her out from." I carried on eating.

"Apparently, she worked in the Ministry with the new Minister and that's how she landed this job." Dean interjected as he gulped a large glass of juice.

"Oh that's fantastic, the Minister sounds like a nut job so she must be his spawn." I laughed.

"I'm sure she can't be _that_ bad." Hermione said as she gave a hopeful smile similar to Luna's before.

"Are you being serious?" Harry spoke now, I forgot he was even at the table. Everybody turned to look at him. "What? I agree with you guys." He murmured before he quickly looked back at his plate of food. I smiled and I'm sure he saw me from the corner of his eye and smiled back.

The feast was coming to an end now and we all began to make our way out the Hall. As we were just about to exit, Professor Annabelle met us at the door.

"Goodnight students, and Ginevra," She spoke my name with such distaste as she turned to me, "Make this the last team you are without robes during a school gathering." She glided past us back to the front of the hall. I mouthed oh my god to the rest of them as we all carried on walking. I couldn't actually believe it, how did she really just turned that around on me? It was getting laughable.

**A slow and uneventful chapter but it gets better! Please review and leave your super duper thoughts about the story so far! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Apologies for a late update!**

Chapter 8

GPOV

I couldn't help but try to hide the anguish going on in my head behind my smile as we all laughed off Professor Annabelle's targeting behaviour towards me. If it was anybody else I wouldn't even have been bothered, not even slightly. I didn't know why she seemed to hate me, she doesn't even know me. And whoever that Isaac was, he seemed weird, really weird, cute, but really weird. Almost like, having a secret agenda for something kind of weird.

We made it to the top of the staircase for what felt like the millionth time for me tonight, we all seemed to be travelling in a herd, there was a large bunch of us all waiting to crawl through the portrait space of the Fat Lady. Whilst waiting in the line I could feel warmth behind me, everybody was cramped waiting to go in so it could be coming from anywhere. But as I got closer to crawl in, it was pressing against my neck as the pushing from the rest of the students began, any other time I would turn around and stop everyone from being idiots but I didn't want to. I knew who was behind me and I liked it, I don't know if he was doing it on purpose but even if he didn't, it felt nice. Like a bubble that consumes you and you just go bouncing in your own world. Hard to believe this came from just standing close to someone but it's really like that. I grinned to myself because nobody knew how my head was going crazily high over something that was so small from somebody who I had small feelings for. Small feelings.

"It's your turn to go in." I jumped as the little whisper came from just behind my ear. I turned around and smiled at Harry as he was half looking down. I stepped out from the warm bubble and made my way inside, I went straight to my room and decided to get straight into bed. All the other girls were showering and going to the bathroom etc, I had my time to do that already thanks to a certain witch.  
I got into my pyjamas that Mum had knitted for me years ago, she had enchanted them to grow with me so thankfully I was never too big for them. I started to read my book before I got some sleep seeing as how classes began tomorrow and I don't think I'd have time to read, firstly because of no time and secondly, I would be too tired so sleep comes first. Always.

I stayed reading until I was reading a paragraph that I had forgot what happened that I had to read it again. I put my book down and was about to turn off the lamp on my bedside when I heard Hermione's whispering shout from the door.

"Hey! Keep it on please." She had just come up and was tip toeing across the room.

"Where have you been?" I asked as I fluffed my pillow ready to slam my head onto it.

"I was just in the common room with Ron and Harry. I was helping Ron to get his books together for tomorrow, he lost some of his last year." She muffled as she began to change.

I nodded, "Okay cool, well night because I am _shattered_." She smiled and switched her night light on as I switched mine off and turned around to let her change in privacy. I made sure my alarm was set for the morning. It was eleven thirty, I was so tired, I couldn't wait to finally get to sleep. I closed my eyes and into the blackness.

At least I thought I did, I was woken up by the clock from Hermione's bedside table falling. I switched my light on and as my eyes squinted as they adjusted to the light I could see her arm had knocked it off in her sleep, her arm was hanging from the bed. I couldn't help but giggle. I looked around the rest of the room, everybody was still fully asleep and Hermione looked extra knocked out. I picked her clock up for her and saw the time say two thirty. Wow, it didn't feel like I had even been asleep for nearly four hours. I went to the bathroom and quickly scurried back into my bed and turned my light off.  
I stayed tossing and turning, I couldn't even get back a wink of sleep. I became so pissed off I needed to get out of bed, I was beginning to get too hot and all hope of sleep would be lost. I decided to go downstairs and get a glass of water. I stepped into my slippers and gently made my way across the room. Half way down the stairs I saw the light from the common room switched on from around the bend in the staircase. I slowly made the rest of my way down as I tried to see who was there. I could hear no voices but I could see a shadow of somebody sat in front of the fire. I quietly walked in and it was Harry, sat there, alone.

"Harry?" In the silence it felt like I bellowed his name. He jumped as he stood up and turned around, looking like he was going to take me out. I held my hands up "Woah, take it easy, it's only me." He looked alarmed and slowly put his hands down "Jesus, are you okay Harry?" I quavered. He looked up at me, and looked up into my eyes and quickly blinked away.

"I'm sorry Ginny, I'm fine, I should get back up." He slurred his speech and began to rush away, obviously.

"Wait, Harry don't go." he stopped and slowly turned around. "I think we need to move past this awkward post awkward moment stage." He stayed silent, I urged him to give me a response as I raised my eyebrows and nodded.

He cleared his throat, "Erm yeah I 100% agree with you." His eyes were still buried in the floor.

"Great, so will you at least look me in the eye when you speak to me," I paused as he fidgeted, "Please?" He finally looked up and smiled. "You must know I don't see you naked in my head every time I see you, you know, there's no need for the this weird inept friendship to exist." I laughed and I was relieved to see him laugh too.

"I know and hope you didn't, I just, I don't know, it's just-"

"Weird? Believe me, it's weird for me too." I made sure I exclaimed it to him so he actually got it. "And you're awkward acting hasn't particularly helped either." He let out a grin.

"I'm sorry that you saw me indecent, I'm sure it was so embarrassing for you." He executed sarcasm well.

"Thank you," I returned the sarcasm but in a much lesser tone. "Now, what do you say we erase that it ever happened?"

"I would love that very much," He smiled, "But obviously you already told Luna and I'm sure Hermione too?" He looked hopeful for an answer that would prove him wrong. I gave a half hearted nod and he sighed.

"They won't say a word, I promise." I was being honestly genuine now, "If they do, people would ask me and I'll lie."

"Thanks Ginny." He looked at me and ten feet of tension had just risen in the air and for the first time, I was the first one to look away.

"So what are you doing awake anyway?" I asked him as I stumbled into the sofa on the way to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Erm I couldn't sleep." He stumbled with his words as I stumbled back to the sofa and I sat down this time. It was clear he was lying "You?" He sat down on the sofa chair for one opposite me.

"Hermione was doing karate in her sleep and knocked her clock over and I woke up, I couldn't get back to sleep." He laughed.

"That sounds like her, all last year when we were away in the tent she used to do that constantly. I would instantly wake up but Ron would sleep right through it." He laughed as he remembered but the laughter went away quickly, I could see the anguish of last year wash over his face as he remembered more.

"What about you?" I snapped him out of his little trance. "Why are you really awake? You don't even look like you've been in your bed." I spoke slowly as I took a sip of my water. His face looked stricken as his green eyes became wide.

"Honestly, I couldn't sleep so I decided to come downstairs and pass the time." He laid back into the chair. I stared at him.

"You are the worst liar in the whole universe Harry Potter." I squinted at him, "I came down and you were just staring into the fire place. Not to mention you almost took me out when I said your name." I furrowed my eyebrows.

He smiled, "Okay you have a point." he paused "But, honestly it's nothing, don't worry about it." He shrugged his shoulders and got up to the kitchen.

I wasn't sure if I should push on for more answers from him or if I would be overstepping boundaries. Maybe I should keep quiet and stay here until I begin to feel tired again. He came back and sat in the chair, he had a bowl of cereal. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"I'm hungry and it seemed appropriate." He took a mouthful and some milk fell out his mouth. My eyebrows remained raised with a look of disgust.

"God, I forget how you can match Ron on the scale of being an ultimate mess of a boy." I groaned at him. He laughed and more milk was spurted. I eurgh'ed at him and threw the cushion in my lap at him.

"Hey!" he began to shout as he dodged the cushion, but remembered the rest of the world was sleeping and lowered his voice "I take pride in being an 'ultimate mess of a boy', it's good for my ego." he laughed.

"I don't even want to know if you're being serious or not but let me tell you that it's nothing to take pride in." I stated. "Believe me."

He grinned as he wiped his face and hands and nodded towards me. "Okay, okay, Mrs Weasley, I believe you, no need to get threatening." He held his hands up in fake surrender. I gave a sarcastic grin in return.

After that, we both went silent and the tension in the room returned as we were just staring at each other. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was fully filled with conversation but not the talking kind. He stared into my eyes and mine into his. His hair was ruffled against his eyes when he blinked, the strands from his lashes caught on and made it look like there was a sparkle in his eye. I couldn't hear anything else in the room apart from his heavy breathing. It was husky, almost like he had a cold but he didn't, it was endearing because it felt like he had something to say when it mattered, and the reddish-golden dimness of the common room didn't affect the bright emerald of his eyes. For the first time, neither of us wanted to look away first. And we didn't, I didn't know how long we stayed like that until Harry spoke.

"I don't sleep." I was caught out from my imagination with confusion.

"What?" I marvelled at him as I readjusted myself in my seat after sitting in one position too long.

"Before, when you said I lied, you were right. Its not that I couldn't sleep, it's just that I don't sleep." he paused to take in my reaction of immobilisation, "I haven't for months." He shrugged his shoulders as he laid back into the chair.

I wasn't sure what to say except a murmured "wow". A short silence resumed between us and I could see his face turn solemn.

"Because of what happened last year?" My voice was croaking because I hadn't spoken for a while but I also didn't want to trigger anything for him by over stepping a line.

"I think so, yeah." he paused as he looked to the floor again "At the beginning I slept, but nightmares kind of overshadowed it and I didn't really end up with much sleep." he cleared his throat deeply "So I just gave up." He raised his eyes from the floor back to me.

I had no idea what to reply this time either. "Why are you telling me this Harry?" I stuttered, I didn't want to make it sound like I didn't care, because I did. I really did.

"Because you're here," he smiled and sighed simultaneously "Plus, you asked." he added.

I smiled, "I know, but it seemed like you were reluctant to tell me." I shrugged at him.

"I had a change of heart." He leaned forward with his hands folded together as he smiled at me. "You're also easy to talk to."

I shied away from his face "So how long have you been without sleep?" I answered with a question, and he leaned back once more still keeping his strong gaze.

"The longest I've been without no solid sleep has been a week, but two weeks with naps."

"What?! Oh my god, that's insane." I gasped, "How can you do it? I thought the longest somebody could go was only a couple of days."

"Its not difficult when you're running."

"But, I don't understand why Harry?"

He looked up at me and then turned to the fire place that was roaring quietly. "I never expected to make it out alive last year. I was so sure I was ready to die, and I went willingly." he paused as he let out a small breath. "But, I was saved somehow. I didn't really understand why or how to be honest, but I was alive." He threw a small piece of paper into the fire as he was talking. "Everything after I came back out from the forest was a blur because it all happened so fast. I didn't even fully acknowledge all the lives that had been lost in the battle."

"But, Harry you must know it's not your fault. It all became much bigger and complicated than what it was in the beginning." I interrupted him and he turned back to me.

"I'm sorry Ginny." his eye watered a little. "I really am, I'm so sorry for Fred and for everything you and your family have lost. I know you don't blame me but the only reason everybody in that school was even fighting was because they were protecting me." he drew his voice back. "I tried to put it right but it was over before I could even make a move. That's what haunts me the most. I don't mean to pry on anything or anyone" He stood up abruptly and walked closer to the fire place as he added more wood "but I could've done more."

"Harry, you defeated Voldemort, after all those years, you finally defeated him. You did. You saved us all and the wizarding world will always thank you for that. We won, and Fred, Lupin, Tonks and all the others that fought will be remembered as heroes. You can't blame yourself, it's not fair on you or any of us." I was beckoning to him without realising as I stood behind him. I calmed my voice, "We all have to move forward Harry, including you." I could feel my eyes warming up from the fire, but I think I was getting emotional too.

He looked at me and didn't say a word until "I told you, you were easy to talk to." he smiled and walked to the chair as he put his robe on and sat on the arm.

I remained facing the fire until I fought the tears that were about to come strolling down. Crying has come so easily lately, I wish it didn't. I turned around and picked my glass of water up from the small table and took a sip and looked at him.

"Well, we can establish that we're way past awkward now." I chuckled.

"Oh definitely." He laughed. "Thanks Ginny."

"No worries." I smiled.

"Still can't get sleep though." he sighed.

"I think we'll take it one step at a time Mr Potter. Because I for one need to, because we _both_ have classes at nine am." I put my glass down as I yawned as graciously as I could. I grabbed my robe on the back of the chair and began to walk away. "Goodnight Harry." I smiled.

"Goodnight." He replied and he dimmed the fire way down.

I was just about to go up the stairs when I heard, "Hey Ginny!" I turned around, "Same time tomorrow?" he beamed.

"Erm maybe a little earlier." I grinned and made my way up.

I was very careful trying not to bump into anything across the room in the darkness, I did however trip on what felt like a pair of jeans on the floor. I jumped into my bed and saw the clock go just past five. Time had gone very fast, and everything suddenly felt incredibly surreal. But I had no time to dwell because the lack of sleep came crashing down on me, I think I was out within thirty seconds.

**Longer chapter than normal! Lots of Harry too. It took me a while to write this chapter because I wasn't sure how I would do it, I wanted it to be as good as what I had planned so I tried to execute the character bonding as well as I could have. As usual, I would really really really appreciate your thoughts so far and suggestions are welcome too! (appropriate suggestions :))**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

GPOV

I woke up to throbbing buzzing of the incredibly annoying alarm clock, I gave a muffled groan into my pillow as I reached out aimlessly trying to turn it off. I finally succeeded after three attempts of misses. I heard Hermione's tweeting alarm clock off go off a few minutes after, it was much easier for her to jump up and get out of bed and I heard her soft footsteps travel to the bathroom. We all had our own clocks because even though we were all in the same room, the room was very spacious and I for instance couldn't hear the clock from the front of the room. I squinted around the room and found it half empty, I noticed somebody's feet dangling out from the end of their bed out of their duvet, I gave a little quiet chuckle to myself, it's funny how people can be so ridiculous whilst not knowing a thing about it. It was always one of my worst fears that when, if I ever got married I would completely gross my husband by the way I slept. My groggy eyes and hair were certainly a sight to see in the morning. Hermione's husband would be waking up with bruises left right and centre, poor bastard.  
She came quickly scurrying back as I noticed she had put on her skirt and tights already, but still had her pyjama top on.

"Someone's a little eager to get started." My voice croaked. She smirked at me and just gave a shrug.

"Shouldn't you be getting up too now." She raised her eyebrow up at me as she put on the remaining of her uniform and began wearing her tie in her little desk mirror.

I gave another groan and clutched my head and ran my fingers through my hair, "Do I have too?" Another croak eloped out of my mouth and my eyes widened. My voice was going, I couldn't believe it, I hadn't been sick in over a year. That would explain my knot in stomach yesterday and the weird feelings but I was putting that to excellent intuition of the bitch Professor. I braced myself that it was going to get worse and suddenly I got a gentle throb in my temple. This time I gave an internal sigh, I didn't know if the headache was because I was getting sick or from the lack of sleep of spending half the night with Harry.  
Harry, I didn't fully understand what yesterday, or today's very early morning I should say, really meant. He felt he could confide in me but I knew that he barely scratched the surface of what was eating him inside. It was strange, he had Ron to go to, even Hermione. Maybe it really was just a coincidence of being in each other's presence at that particular moment in time. But, my gut was telling me it was something more than that but I didn't want to pull the band-aid off all at once. Anything to avoid going back to awkward not awkward vicarious friends through Ron and Hermione and the rest of the freaking year. I gave my head one last squeeze and closed my eyes mentally preparing myself for the tiredness of a first day back to school and sprung up to my feet. Until I fell back down again against my will, my head couldn't take the rush and my eyes began to see blind spots. After a few seconds my vision returned and I got up again, this time I took it slow and I turned around to make my bed.  
I finished only to be met by a worried stare from Hermione.

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows and I could feel my throat clogging up that I had to dramatically clear it.

"Are you sure you're ok?" She asked.

I smiled, clearing my throat once more but it didn't work "Yeah I'm fine, just feeling ridiculously tired." Her worried stare transformed into a look of uncertainty and concern, "Honestly Hermione, don't worry. I'm going to get changed so I'll see you in the hall." I smiled and picked my uniform out and took it to the bathroom. I never got changed in the room if there was more than three girls in the room, I knew nothing would happen, because for one thing, they were sleeping but it was just a thing I did ever since first year.

I saw my face in the mirror and understood why Hermione had the expressions she did. My face looked hollow as there were purple rings around my eyes and red blotches in them. I poked at the bags under my eyes but I couldn't feel anything, I felt so numb. I got changed and felt the robe I had put to dry yesterday, it was still a little damp. I picked it up and looked in the mirror and sighed at my reflection as I made my way out. I cast a quick little drying spell on my robe and wrapped it around me. I brushed my hair and decided to put a little bit of the home made moisturiser that Luna gave for me to my face. It worked for her, so how bad could it be. It smelled like the grass from the barn as I basked it in. When I decided I finally looked decent enough and not dead to the world I made my way out of the room as I began to notice the remaining girls beginning to stir in their beds.

The common room was empty when I made it down, except for Erin who was sat beside the fire place next to the chair I was sitting in last night, _this morning_. She was just sat there, motionless with a book in her hand.

"Erin?" She snapped out as I wheezed her name. She turned her head to meet my gaze. I smiled at her and she returned it sweetly. "Are you ok?" I asked, unsure why I was really asking.

"I'm good, just doing a little morning reading." She kept smiling eagerly as she held her book up, it was a copy of something I didn't recognize but it looked like a school book.

I nodded at her, "Okay, well have a good first day and you know you can come find me if anything goes wrong." I was still unsure of myself of why I was making these suggestions to a little girl I only met yesterday.

She nodded to me and I left the room through the portrait and I shook my head from confusion of myself.  
I made it to the hall, still having to walk slowly because my head still couldn't take any fast movements. I was hoping the headache would clear up after I had a little bit of breakfast. I walked down the isle to where the trio were sat with Luna and Neville. I sat down quietly next to Luna opposite Harry and Hermione. I caught his eye and he gave a small smile with a courteous nod before quickly reverting his eyes back to his food and the copy of the Daily Prophet on the table. I could feel my face burning from the urging stare Hermione was giving to me but I avoided her eyes until I felt her give in to defeat and finally look away. I had no idea what I felt like I wanted to eat, I was never usually big on breakfast but I couldn't think otherwise with the throbbing headache that I could feel was evasively growing. I closed my eyes and really shut them hard wishing the pressure would ease the tension.

"Ginny?" I heard Neville's concerned tone and opened my eyes and quickly looked at him with a wide smile. "Are you ok?" I nodded in response with my smile still intact as convincingly as I could. I wanted to avoid any opportunity to let the frog in my throat have a chance to croak. I was met with silence from the rest of the table but I continued to smile widely and nod. They all looked away slowly back to what they were doing but I was met with a gaze from Harry. His eyes burned into mine as he could tell that I was not at all feeling ok but I just smiled as I bit my bottom lip nervously and nodded meaninglessly to him too. Of course it dawned on me that somebody like Harry would take every opportunity to blame himself for something that really had nothing to do with him and it was ridiculous, but I knew that his head would be swimming with thoughts of blame because he kept me awake last night and that was why I was sick. But I was hoping that nobody knew I was sick because that would make the whole "back to school" atmosphere a whole lot worse than it already was.

I decided all I could digest right now was a morning cereal bar that Neville had kindly offered me, well he offered me two making me save one for later. I was glad, because by the way things were looking, the thought of a full on dinner later on was enough to make me slightly nauseous as I gulped my stomach back down. The hall was now flowing with students trying to make their way to a last minute breakfast before classes started in five minutes. I picked up my bag and slung it lazily around my shoulder and waited as I waited for Ron because we had Transfiguration with McGonagall first. I learned that Harry was in that class too so the three of us made our way as a worried Hermione went to Ancient Runes with her new Professors. I snickered to myself, thanking the lord that the awful woman didn't teach any of my classes.

Transfiguration passed incredibly slowly, I barely kept my eyes open for the first forty five minutes as I rested my head on my lazily raised arm. Professor McGonagall kept giving me glares and so did the Hufflepuff girl sat next to me. I mirrored her face as she sat in a humph when McGonagall set us a small task of attempting a Bird-conjuring charm. The next minute the room was set alight as there were colourful birds flying everywhere tweeting. It would have been lovely any other day but my head couldn't take it and I collapsed back onto my stool as everybody was enjoying the entertainment. I lifted my hand to my forehead and rubbed it furiously. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I quickly turned as I saw Professor McGonagall looking at me with a vigorous look of concern.  
"Would you like to step outside Mrs Weasley?" She spoke in her warm gentle tone over the noise of the room. I nodded to her gratefully and walked out the door. I walked out into the hall as I shut the door behind me, blocking the sound away. I sat against the wall on the floor and closed my eyes. What an incredibly bad day this was turning out to be and to make matters even worse I heard footsteps walking towards me. I refused to open my eyes until I felt a shadow over me. I sighed realising I was going to have to.

I didn't expect to see what I saw when I opened my heavy eyes. I was met with the beautiful bright green eyes of Isaac. His sandy hair was even more ruffled than yesterday and it suited him ridiculously well and I gave an internal cry to myself over how he beautiful he really was. He was staring down at me giving me a strange shifted smile of 'what the hell are you doing sat on the floor?'

"What the hell are you doing sat on the floor?" his husky voice echoed my thoughts exactly and I wanted to freak out and scream to the universe, what the hell was going on today. I realised I had to let the frog in my throat free to answer his question without making myself look stupid.

"What's it to you?" was all I could muster up. I was still adamant that his beauty didn't cancel out the fact that he seemed to be an utter dick. But his impeccable features made a strong argument too.

"Nothing, it's just you look a little out of place sat on the floor. You also sound incredibly sick." I realised he had a little twang in his English accent, that wasn't English. But, I couldn't put my finger on it.

I raised my eyebrow up at him as I strained my neck up to see him, "What's that supposed to mean?" I cleared my throat as I picked myself up from the floor, hanging on to the wall behind me for dear support. I was at eye level now and I had to stop myself from losing thought because of looking into the endless green and I realise I must sound incredibly pathetic to anyone who has the fortunate ability to read minds. So I decided to look just beyond into the space behind him.

He cleared his throat this time, "I'm sorry we haven't officially met. My names Isaac." He held out his hand to me. I furrowed my eyebrows and slowly reached out my hand to meet his, he shook it gently but didn't let go. I furrowed my eyebrows further as I looked at him. "And what I meant was you are far too beautiful to be sat on the floor." He held his intense stare whilst I'm sure probably blushed a little, _naturally_. He began to lean his head down and I realised he was going to plant a kiss on my hand and I instantly stiffened. I quickly pulled my hand back, not knowing what to do next as I just stared at my feet that looked so small. "You really are and don't let anybody tell you any different, Ginny." I heard him give a soft raspy chuckle and I watched as his back turned and walked away. Now I really wanted to scream, my head was swimming with thoughts of what on earth is going on? As well as why was I completely backing away from probably the cutest guy in Hogwarts who just called me beautiful…I couldn't wait to tell Hermione and Luna. Definitely needed an outsiders perspective here.  
As I shuffled the dust off the back of my robe, I turned around ready to go back inside but the school bell rang and the door flung open as the students came flooding out. I saw Harry and Ron walk out last and noticed Harry was holding my bag and held it out for me. I took it from him and lazily flung it on my shoulder. He was looking me in the eye, his emerald defeating my amber brown as I quickly shied away hoping the blushing from earlier had disappeared. I murmured a small thanks and he gave me the same nod and smile that he gave me at breakfast.

"What happened to you?" Ron looked at me as we began walking to our next class, Potions. Ron wasn't in this class with us and it was just me and Harry.

"I just had to step outside for a minute." It came out more mumbled than I had expected it to, but it was the frog talking. I wasn't sure if Ron heard me but he just nodded and rolled his eyes and started talking to Harry about something that had happened in the boys dorm last night. I mentally rolled my eyes as I heard Dean had given Seamus a wedgie in his sleep. You wouldn't think they would go on to have careers after this year ended. Harry just nodded along and said he must've been to deep in his sleep to hear the shrieks. But wouldn't Ron notice the empty bed next to him? Strange, I made a mental note to ask Harry how nobody noticed he was awake all the time, whenever I had the next chance to speak to him. Then I remembered he had asked me same time tomorrow, I knitted my eyebrows together as I walked and Ron left us, did he want to keep confiding me? I thought it would be a one time thing but I was completely unsure. I thought I could ask him as we walked to Potions together but I heard a shout behind us.

"HARRY! GINNY!" we rapidly spun around, I was quite terrified but we saw Hermione running_ gracefully_ towards us as she tried to dodge the other students. I gave a snigger and I saw Harry laugh too. She finally reached us, panting for breath.

"I just realised," she took a large breath "that we have the same class together now. I thought I had it in another block with Ron." She took another large gulp of air.

"Why did you have to run?" Harry had his eyebrow raised and I was wondering the same question.

"Because," she took another large gulp of air "I didn't want to be the only one that walked in late." She gave a shrug and an unsure smile. Both Harry and I shook our heads and began to make our way again as Hermione paced behind us. We also began speed walking as she highlighted the fact the we were late.

We made it but Professor Slughorn wasn't in the room yet. Harry and Hermione sat together and I sat on the bench in front of them next to Susan. I looked at her and smiled and she returned a very lazy smile and I realised she was still recovering from being sick. I wondered if that's how I got ill. Professor Slughorn walked in wearing his eccentric robes and began teaching. Thankfully, there was no practical work and just theory this lesson, I took the opportunity to put my head on the table and ease the throbbing tension. The lesson passed quicker than Transfiguration even though it had a longer timeslot. I packed up my bags and dragged my feet out the door. It was a lunch hour now and as we reached the Hall I got the cereal bar from my bag and nibbled at it on the table. I really wish I had my appetite as I saw all the delicious food around me but it was sending my head and stomach into a spiral.

Hermione described her class to us with the bitch professor.

"They both introduced the class to us together and explained that we would only be having Professor Annabelle twice every two weeks and Professor Swan the rest of the time." She sighed in relief as she was picking at her pasta. "Annabelle wouldn't even let Hannah go to the bathroom, when she had to finally give in because Hannah was reduced to tears." She gasped, "And when she returned I swear you cut the tension in the room with a knife." Much like my head I remarked mentally. "But Professor Swan seems nice, she manages to cancel out the horridness from her counter-part. And she's a really good teacher too." Everybody began to chip in to the conversation whilst my eyes drifted around the room. I didn't know why but I was looking for the sandy hair and I couldn't make it out over all the people swarming in.

At that moment I saw Hannah walk in through the grand doors with a friend and I could see her eyes were swollen red. I couldn't fathom why the professor would just be so cruel. She reminded me of a Professor Umbridge, even worse but not as obvious as Umbridge had been and a hell of a lot more spiteful.

The rest of the day passed slowly and when my final class, Herbology, came to an end I gave a sigh of great relief. Neville gave me all the advice he knew about plants and drinks that could make me feel better as we walked out. But we both decided that I really just needed to get some sleep. I told him to tell everyone that I would try to be down before dinner hour but I was asleep otherwise. He smiled and we parted ways. I was hoping a decently lengthened nap would help me get rid of this awful niggling headache that had its pleasure of coming and going. I finally made it up the seven floors and reached the top with a large groan and dragged my feet the rest of the way to the fat lady. I walked in the common room and it was glistening in the dusk that was beaming in from the large windows that were radiating warm heat. It was once again empty but I knew it would be filling up as the rest of the student day would be coming to an end in the next hour or so. I also realised I hadn't mentioned anything about Isaac to the girls but I knew it could certainly wait but I don't think I was ready for the reactions that Hermione would be spurting out with.

When I reached my bed I took off my school robe and threw it on the floor and smashed down on my bed not even bothering to get changed. I felt myself drift away and I could feel my pulse in my ear and I used it to help me slowly fall away and I greeted the blackness that came with a large dreamy grin and went to sleep.

**I had fun writing this chapter and it's quite longish, because I wanted the whole first day to be in one chapter. Not alot of dialogue but Ginny will feel better soon! Thankyou to those who have followed/favoured/reviewed, its much appreciated and please please please keep them coming! **


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